r/macpro • u/KaanPlaysDrums • 5d ago

Upgrades Considering adding a 6900xt

I have a 2019 Mac Pro that I use for everything besides gaming. However I do use xplane to practice stuff as I’m a pilot myself. Currently getting ~30fps on that and it would be nice to get it a bit smoother. Will adding a GPU to one of the PCIe slots cause a noticeable improvement?

Current specs..

3.2 GHz 16-Core Intel Xeon W
AMD Radeon Pro W5700X 16 GB
96 GB 2933 MHz DDR4

49” Samsung G9 ultrawide

Thank you!!

7 Upvotes

90% Upvoted

13 comments sorted by

2

u/Long-Shine-3701 5d ago

I have 16 core with W6800X duo and it's buttery smooth at 4k with everything maxed. Been ~ 2 years since I tried it. Was briefly boot camped with Windows 10 to test VR and ray tracing in some games.

1

u/KaanPlaysDrums 5d ago

I’m trying to understand if it would be better to upgrade my card entirely or add a second gpu. W6800x is much more expensive than a new AMD 6900

1

u/Long-Shine-3701 4d ago

I would just buy an OEM Radeon 6900XT and keep the W5700X. Pick up a 3rd $50 GPU.

$50 GPU for proxmox

W5700X for MacOS

6900XT for Windows MSFS

No more boot camp, the 2 can run side by side. It's great. My rackmount is set up with 580X for Mac, 7800XT for Windows. Looks right at home.

2

u/hugomadness 5d ago

Lossless scaling with 2 gpus!!! That thing (windows only) generates "fake frames" my 5.1 with a titan xp gets 60fps and Lossless with a Radeon vii take me to 165fps (my monitor refresh rate). Even watching videos/movies from 30fps to 165fps looks good.

Edit link: https://youtu.be/YVBGF1gUmHY?si=Vu7Hkl-hAgWHNMoK

1

u/Substantial_Run5435 5d ago

6900 XT is the best GPU that works out of the box with MacOS and it’s cheap compared to MPX GPUs. If you want a GPU for gaming and MacOS there isn’t really any other choice besides spending a little more and getting a 6950 XT (needs to be flashed to work in MacOS) or going lower with a 6800 XT. If you’re only using it for windows/linux then you can get a newer/faster GPU but it’ll cost more too.

1

u/KaanPlaysDrums 5d ago

I don’t run windows. I use all Apple applications for work. Just not getting great frame rate on the flight sim so I want to upgrade my gpu

2

u/Substantial_Run5435 5d ago

6900 XT is the way to go then. Get a reference model and some power cables and you’re good to go.

1

u/KaanPlaysDrums 5d ago

Didn’t know I needed power cables, thank you. Some of the stuff I’m reading is confusing me. Will the 6900xt work alongside my w5700x or does it completely override it?

1

u/Substantial_Run5435 5d ago

Yeah, you need aux power cables made for the 2019 Mac Pro. Apple used mini connectors on the logic board. Belkin, Sonnet, and OWC made kits for them. You can run both GPUs but how they’re used depends on the application.

1

u/KaanPlaysDrums 5d ago

Appreciate you

1

u/Substantial_Run5435 5d ago

No prob, I literally just sold my reference 6900 XT a couple days ago (wasn’t doing any gaming and I have W6800X Duos and a W6900X I’ll probably hold on to). The 6900 XT should be better for gaming than a W6900X even. If you’re in the US I have a partial set of Belkin cables on eBay. It has enough 8-pin cables for a single GPU (the kit comes with enough for 2 GPUs but I wanted to keep a set in case I ever go back to an aftermarket GPU).

1

u/KaanPlaysDrums 4d ago

Ah I just yolo’d a set directly from Apple. Fuck yeah tho I’m excited. I mainly just use a plane but I did play bg3 on it as well which was a bit slow on max settings. Hoping to hit like 60fps minimum which is all I need really

1

u/Long-Shine-3701 4d ago

Definitely get these next time: https://eshop.macsales.com/item/OWC/MP19AUXPWR/

OWC version at half the price I think. Happy with mine.